Transportation and Related Energy Use & Environmental Issues

Transportation & Development

Transport is the heart of all developmental activities and is essential to economic development and social welfare. Traditionally the goods are moved by Rail or Road or Inland Water transport. The age of Canals in the 19 th century was followed by Railway Era, which in turn was overtaken by Road Transport, as the dominant mode of transport, in the latter half of 20 th century. The most recent transport infrastructure development is Air Transportation.

The income and mobility have always progressed together and the mobility increases with income. But mobility tends to increase faster than income in the developing economies, mainly because of movements of population from rural to urban areas and of increasing movement of goods. The transport capacity has been far behind the demand and has become a constraint for economic growth.

Public Vs Private Transportation

Moreover the urban settlements are developing erratically, without adequate public transport system, resulting in the rapid growth of personalized vehicles at a faster pace than the availability of roads in urban areas. One of the main contributors is the diversion of highly subsidized Diesel in India, meant for Goods and Public Transportation, for personalized diesel vehicles. This trend needs to be arrested and reversed by heavily taxing personalized diesel vehicles.

Inefficient Road Transportation in India

In a fuel scarce economy of India, the petroleum products worth more than 10,000 million dollars had to be imported during 1999-2000 and about 30 percent of total energy consumed was utilized on transport. A part of this consumption is due to inappropriate choice of the mode of transport, bad roads and the inefficient vehicles. It has been well established that every year, fuel worth of Rs.500 Crores is being wasted due to bad roads apart from another Rs.4000 Crores on vehicle operating costs.

Rail Vs Road Transportation

The private passenger transport is estimated to consume about 20 times the energy required for public transport buses, per passenger kilometer. The rail systems which are the most powerful and energy efficient systems, having the highest hourly passenger carrying capacity, require much less energy than the buses. Similarly transporting a tonne of freight by road requires several times the energy required to transport the same tonne of freight by rail or inland water transport.

The Western Europe, China, India and Japan account for substantial share of passenger transportation by Rail--China 39.45%, Japan 30% and Western Europe15%. In contrast the passenger travel, in North America, by rail accounts for infinitesimal share of total passenger travel. Even though Rail passenger transport is generally considered to be much more energy efficient, than Road or Air passenger transport, the Rail's share of passenger transport is falling steadily all over the world. Similarly the share of freight hauled by rail and inland water transport, two relatively energy efficient modes, is sharply declining everywhere.

Highways Development at the Cost of Railways

In India the road transport has grown at the cost of the Railways. The road ways which carried 11% of freight and 26% of passenger traffic in 1951, handled 34% of freight and 60% passenger traffic in 1971. In the more recent years, the share of road is estimated to have gone up further. The manner in which the distortion has reached, can be gauged by the fact that bulk cargo such as Coal, Food grains, Fertilizers, Cement etc are moved by roads over long distances, even though it is more economical to carry them by rail. The four-laning of the National Highway network "Golden Quadrangle", with an overall investment of Rs.20,000 Crores, at the rate of Rs.4 crore per km, will distort further, to the disadvantage of rail transportation.

Road Transport & Environment

The most crucial issue that transportation planners face is to how to economize on transport costs. The energy costs should be the over riding consideration while determining an optimal mix of the country's transport system. It is possible to save substantial amounts of energy in the transport sector and to cut down transport related carbon emissions and other pollutants. Transport has significant effects on the environment. The Road transport is the dominant source of emissions that contribute to urban air pollution. The rail transport is relatively environmentally benign, although it contributes to noise.

A well-integrated, multimodal system relying increasingly on emerging technologies will be an essential element of sustainable transport scenario in the present millennium. Road transport should take care of bulk cargo over short hauls and in areas not covered by rail. The highest priority should be given for the development of rural roads and district roads, connecting to Rail head, Seaports and other main roads, instead of giving priority only to the National and State Highways.

Demand Suppression Approach Needed

Too much emphasis on converting National/State Highways into Expressways and building of flyovers and widening of urban roads, which is supply oriented, will only add more and more vehicles on roads, further increasing fuel consumption and adding to air pollution. What we need is the Avoidance-Oriented or Demand-Suppression approach, to bring down the number of vehicles on roads and to cut down fuel consumption and consequential pollution. This can be achieved better by developing and encouraging energy efficient modes like Railways, Electrification of Railway lines, Coastal Shipping, Inland Water-Transport and Product Pipelines for long distance movement of bulk commodities.

For the metropolises, an energy efficient urban planning to minimize the need for intra-city commuting (Demand Suppression) is the need of the day. This can be achieved by decongestion of city centers, decentralization of governance, development of self-supporting townships, etc. The Urban Land-Use Planning and its strict implementation are of vital importance for energy efficiency This is the right time to incorporate these measures in "Hyderabad Master Plan 2020" which is being debated since 1994. The debate about LRTS, MMTS, MRTS, BRTS etc, which is going on for so many years, will only lead to Supply Side Management(SSM) measures rather than Demand Side Management (DSM) measures.